New ways to engage customers in co-designing your company's future - a weblog to complement the book, Outside Innovation, by Patty Seybold

Description

What is Outside Innovation?

It’s when customers lead the design of your business processes, products, services, and business models. It’s when customers roll up their sleeves to co-design their products and your business. It’s when customers attract other customers to build a vital customer-centric ecosystem around your products and services.
The good news is that customer-led innovation is one of the most predictably successful innovation processes.
The bad news is that many managers and executives don’t yet believe in it. Today, that’s their loss. Ultimately, it may be their downfall.

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LEAD USERS

Eric von Hippel coined the term "lead users" to describe a group of both customers and non-customers who are passionate about getting certain things accomplished. They may not know or care about the products or services you offer. But they do care about their project or need. Lead users have already explored innovative ways to get things done. They're usually willing to share their approaches with others.

LEAD CUSTOMERS

I use the term "lead customers" to describe the small percentage of your current customers who are truly innovative. These may not be your most vocal customers, your most profitable customers, or your largest customers. But they are the customers who care deeply about the way in which your products or services could help them achieve something they care about.

LEAD CUSTOMERS AND LEAD USERS

We’ve spent the last 25 years identifying, interviewing, selecting, and grouping customers together to participate in our Customer Scenario® Mapping sessions. Over the years, we’ve learned how to identify the people who will contribute the most to a customer co-design session. These are the same kinds of people you should be recruiting when you set out to harness customer-led innovation.

HOW DO YOU WIN IN INNOVATION?

You no longer win by having the smartest engineers and scientists; you win by having the smartest customers!

CUSTOMER CO-DESIGN

In more than 25 years of business strategy consulting, we’ve found that customer co-design is a woefully under-used capability.

Empowering Women

November 14, 2014

At a recent TEDx, I encountered Zoe Weil (pronounced Zo While). She is a pioneer in what she calls “humane education” and “solutioning.” You can find more info on her Institute for Humane Education web site. She describes being a Humane Educator as somebody who teaches about the interconnected issues between human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection. She was introduced to this field in 1987 through a course taught to middle-school kids in Philadelphia.

Zoe’s teaching work reached a tipping point as a result of her TEDx talk in 2011 in Brunswick, Maine. She gave a talk entitled, “The World Becomes What You Teach,” in which she spoke about the “Star Trek vision” of a healthy planet, with peace and prosperity—a planetary population that lives in peaceful coexistence with the populations of its planetary neighbors. Star Trek stories are full of adventures in which people explore and learn; not conquer, she said. She contrasted that vision with the current world full of conflict, human and animal abuse, climate change, and unsustainable practices. And then she offered her solution:

“There’s one system we need to tweak a little bit and if we do that we can solve every problem in the world. That key system is schooling.… We provide every student with the knowledge, the tools, and the motivation to be conscientious choice-makers, and engaged change-makers for a restored, and healthy and humane world for all. Or, another way of putting it: I believe that we need to graduate a generation of solutionaries…there’s no doubt in my mind that they could solve every single problem that we face.”

~ Zoe Weil, TEDx Talk, 2011

Last week, Zoe talked about all the wonderful attention and momentum she has achieved since her TEDx talk in 2011:

“The problem was that there were only a handful of us who were teaching about the interconnected problems of human oppression, rampant consumerism, animal abuse, and environmental destruction… I had the solution to all the world's problems: address the system of education, students can be solutionaries.”

~ Zoe Weil, November 9, 2014

Zoe then went onto describe some of the many things she has accomplished in furthering this movement, including teaching many workshops to kids and teachers, starting a program for graduate students, and:

“Last year, we created the first solutionary school in the pre-K through 12th grade. The curriculum is open source and shareable throughout the world.”

I found myself thinking about the powerful conversations I had had the same week with two graduates of URDT schools—institutions that are located halfway around the world, in rural Uganda. One of the conversations was with Catherine Namwezi, an alumna of the URDT Girls School (K-13); the second, Godliver Businge, is an alumna of both the African Rural University and the URDT Vocational Institute. These young women embody the knowledge, talent, skill, and motivation that Zoe described. Their education was obtained on a campus five hours west of Kampala on dirt roads, in the midst of striking rural poverty. They are part of this new generation of change-makers that Zoe passionately yearns for.

For 25 years, the Uganda Rural Development and Training programme (URDT) has been teaching local women and men, children, and young adults not to solve complex problems, but to create the world they want to live in. URDT’s founder, Mwalimu Musheshe, would probably agree with much of what Zoe Weil teaches and practices, but he would emphasize a creative orientation, rather than a problem-solving orientation.

“URDT provides transformational education to create effective change agents and change-makers within an African development context. URDT applies theoretical learning, innovative instruction, and field practice, so that its graduates can create conditions for rural people to improve their lives, transform their communities, awaken inherent leadership, and increase their capacity for self- generating and sustainable change.

The curriculum promotes visionary leadership, systems thinking, and sustainable development as its core pillars. It aims to give students a life-transforming experience by directly using principles of the creative process in their lives, in families, and in whole communities to create their own desired circumstances."

There are actually three educational institutions on the URDT campus that share this common curriculum: a Girls School (ages 10-18), a Vocational Institute, and a University for women, African Rural University (ARU). Yesterday, ARU was mentioned on Melinda Gates’ blog, Better By Half, in a post by Harvard Professor Calestous Juma, who is a big fan of ARU’s education and the hope it provides for African women.

Is there a connection between human rights and animal rights in the URDT education as there is in the Humane Institute’s curriculum? Absolutely. There is an animal preserve on the URDT campus as well as a sustainable organic farm. Is there an appetite to teach 10 year olds how to envision a better world and to equip them with the tools they need to achieve that better world? Absolutely!

Educating Change Makers to Create a Sustainable Planet

If you’re interested in Zoe Weil’s message about the need to “tweak” the education system in order to “solve” all the problems in the world, let me introduce you to some of the graduates of URDT’s educational institutions. Meet this new generation of change makers—the ones who will create the sustainable world we all want to live in.

April 13, 2013

I have been a part of the gestation, birth, and early childhood of this fledgling
university as a member of the University Council (its governing body) since its
inception. This truly is a unique undertaking—an all women’s university,
designed to train the women who will help transform the African bush, bringing
impoverished and illiterate people into the 21st century in a manner that preserves
the best in their cultural traditions and in their natural environment, but lets
them create prosperous livelihoods in their own rural communities.

The story I chose to tell in this case study includes some of the highlights
in this organization’s journey from a seed planted in 1987 by its founders,
Mwalimu Musheshe, Ephrem Rutaboba, and Silvana Franco, to its current status
as a newly minted University with students two years into a four-year program.
But the journey to this point is fascinating. Because, in order to co-design
the University, all of the constituencies—students, faculty, people
in hundreds of communities, local government officials—ran a 7-year
pilot program—starting with 29 “researcher-students” who
piloted a 5-year curriculum (3 years of courses and 2 years of internship
in the field), and winding up with 17 graduates who are now working as professionals
in 17 different sub-counties, helping hundreds of thousands of villagers
create and actualize their dreams.

December 09, 2011

I just returned from my semi-annual trip to Uganda. I had the unique opportunity to mingle with a group of young adults who were on campus at URDT for a Youth Leadership training program sponsored by the Ugandan government. These 121 young men and 79 young women had been recruited from the slums surrounding the capital city, Kampala, and bussed out into the countryside for this three-month training.

While I was on campus, I gave a talk at the morning assembly about the “Occupy” movement in this country. These young people—many of whom had been involved in the Walk to Work riots in Kampala—were quite interested to hear about the growing income inequality in the U.S., the current unemployment situation, and the fraying of our social safety net. They were also interested to learn that the right of free speech and freedom of assembly make it quite a bit easier to demonstrate and to air your grievances in the U.S. than it is in their country—where both the police and the military take a rather dim view of public demonstrations. Since the Ugandan police tend to crack down quickly, the demonstrations often become violent.

I was impressed by the enthusiasm and passion with which these young people embraced the three months of education they were being offered by URDT, through the auspices of the Ugandan government. But what struck me the most is that many of these students told me they actually yearned to move back to the countryside where the air is clean and the surroundings are a lot less noisy than the city. They were re-discovering the joys of living close to nature, at the same time that they were learning new skills they could use to earn a living anywhere (in the city or the country).

December 18, 2010

Just got the most recent printed copies of my latest oeuvre: It Takes a Child to Raise a Village. I really like the way they turned out! Tikatokdid a great job of producing them for me! I've spent a happy morning shipping out copies to all who ordered copies for the holidays! It's not too late!

How did this book come to be? I spent a week on campus with these girls 11-18 years old. I had 45 minutes with each class (it was the middle of their exam period!). I asked them to write short essays and/or draw pictures about their "Back Home Projects." I handed out color sharpies for the drawings. They worked in class while I egged them on. Then, I disappeared for 6 months. Came back in October with copies of the finished book. The girls were blown away!! They didn't think I really would DO anything with their work!

We held a school assembly where they told their stories on video (coming soon!). And sent them home (not a simple thing, when you live miles away on dirt roads!) with permission slips for their parents/guardians to sign, so that we could publish their photos as well as their writing and artwork.

They are so PROUD of this book! I am so proud of them! These girls are truly transforming the lives of the people in their villages. They are the future hope of Africa!

May 20, 2010

This
week, I am pre-publishing the “master” copy of a true labor of
love — a picture book that tells the stories and shows the
pictures of the visions and accomplishments of a group of extraordinary
girls and their families in rural Uganda.

Who Should Read This Book? My goal is that this
book (or subsequent leaner versions thereof) will find its way
into the hands of kids, teachers, and parents all over the world.
As they learn about the journeys of the Ugandan girls, I’m hoping
they’ll contribute their own stories and pictures about their
journeys and their successes in improving their own lives and the
lives of their families and their communities. We plan to launch a
Web site that will encourage kids to post their own pictures and
stories.

About This Book. This book was written and
illustrated by the girls themselves. My role was midwife, curator,
and editor. These remarkable young women tell the stories about
how they’ve become role models and change agents and produced
dramatic results in the lives of their families and their
communities. They’ve done all of this in a culture in which girls
are under-appreciated, under-educated, and marginalized. And, in
doing so, they’ve earned the respect and admiration of village leaders,
their families, and their peers.

What I like about the book is that, even though it focuses on
the girls’ own stories, the structure of the URDT Girls’ School’s
unique and innovative curriculum comes through. You watch as the
girls learn, teach, and empower their families and their communities
to improve sanitation, nutrition, income, and create peace and
prosperity in their homes and villages. They do this by creating and
actualizing shared visions through leadership, learning by doing,
teaching their parents, and by mobilizing their families in home
improvement and income-generation projects. They hone their
communication skills by debating, producing radio programs, writing,
producing, and delivering plays at community crossroads, and by
teaching, sensitizing, and mobilizing people in their communities. I
believe that the structure and principles of the ecosystem that
URDT has created to empower and support these girls and their
families can and should be replicated in other parts of the world —
with boys as well as girls; in urban, as well as rural settings; in
different cultures.

March 18, 2010

Have you
noticed the ways that your work patterns have changed over the past
five years? Instant messaging, tweeting, SMS, email, and chat, combined
with smartphones has enabled us to be "always on." It's now easy to
strike up a collaborative working relationship across organizational
and geographic boundaries—by messaging, emailing, conferencing, and
sending pictures and files back and forth.

Everyone is now reachable much of the time by mobile phone. The
modalities of collaboration are becoming richer, and, at the same time,
more ad hoc. You can get a quick answer via Twitter, SMS or instant
messaging.

Having recently returned from rural Africa, I was amazed by my ability
to stay in touch through my Blackberry email in the remotest locations.

For example, last week, I was sitting outdoors in a freshly-cleared
area under some shade trees in a remote village we had reached using
4-wheel drive on abominably muddy and potholed dirt roads. I was
listening to local Ugandan women describe what they had learned about
land rights.

These 30 local women from three different villages had
been researching Uganda's four different types of land ownership to
discover that none of their families owned titles to the land they
lived on and cultivated. Having uncovered what steps would be required
to convert their property from absentee-landlord-owned land to freehold
land and then to acquire land titles, they revealed that owning their
own land had become so important to them, they had started earning and
saving money. They had formed three separate Savings and Credit
Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs), and one group of women had already
saved 1.5 million Ugandan Shillings ($750 U.S.) in just a few months.
They planned to build up their collective savings and then lend money
out to one another to buy their land titles.

These women gave credit for the establishment of their Savings Co-Ops
both to the young women Rural Transformation Agents from the nearby
African Rural University (ARU) who had jumpstarted this participatory
action research project on land rights. They also specifically
mentioned Dave Willett, a retired credit union executive who has been
volunteering in this district to help the ARU students and the
community members learn how to set up their own Savings and Credit
Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs). I knew that Dave was in California
and probably wasn't aware that these SACCOs had gotten off the ground
since his visit in November 2009, so I quickly emailed him the news
from my Blackberry. He promptly replied, asked some questions, and
promised to send along some additional background materials for a
community banking workshop the ARU interns would be attending this
week. Sure enough, within a day, we received the new training materials
from Dave.

This is a great example of the kind of ad hoc collaboration that's
taking place all around the world, around issues of importance. What
impressed me was how easy and seamless it was for us to coordinate,
despite the fact that the only Internet access I had was via mobile
phone and wireless modem.

This is one of the proud women who know owns the title to her property!

September 10, 2009

Sanyu Provia’s description of her experience as a student at the
URDT Girls’ School in rural, western Uganda. Sanyu’s
schoolmates are girls from the ages of 12 to 18 years old, who come
from low income rural families. Sanyu applied to be admitted to the
boarding school, did well on the interview, and has been not only
receiving an education in the 3R’s, but also in sanitation, nutrition,
organic farming, carpentry, solar technology and visionary leadership.
While in school, she has helped her family improve their income. She
describes how this works:

"· The backhome projects have helped to increase our income. Our
family got involved in sugar cane growing and out this we were able to
buy a motorcycle (TVS); thanks to URDT.

· Backhome projects have improved our sanitation and health
standards through improvements on our house, constructing a good drying
rack, and a good birth room.

· We as family members we have managed to get school fees for our
sisters who are in secondary schools to proceed with their education.

· Back home projects have helped my family to improve on nutrition,
which has been done through planting different vegetable gardens and
rearing some animals like pigs and goats.

· They have helped me to improve on the co-operation in family through working together to earn a living as a family.

· Back Home projects have helped me to increase on the relationships
with our neighbours. This has been done through sharing with them what
we have as they also get attracted and take these seeds to their families to plant them.

· I have also realized that the back home projects have helped me to
have a shared vision with my family members. This is through bringing
my suggestion towards our family as they agree after talking about it."

September 08, 2009

Here’s an example of 12-to 18 year old girls in Uganda who are
increasing their families’ income through their schools’ projects. Most
families expect kids to become productive members of society AFTER they
graduate from school. At the Uganda Rural Development and Training
(URDT) Programme’s Girls’ School, 240 girls increase their families’
incomes every year by training, organizing and inspiring their family
members. Here’s one of their stories:

Namata Eva, a student at the URDT (URDT.net) Girls’ School, has
witnessed changes at her home because of sustainable income- generating
Back Home Project and she had this to share:

“Back Home projects are series of activities we do at home as we
have learnt them at school. They are family projects because every
member has a role to play in implementing these projects.

Earlier, our family back home projects were growing pineapples,
sugar canes, beans, maize and other traditional crops. However, in
2007/2008 we were introduced to organic farming for income generation
with a specific focus on Sesame and chillies. Our family chose to grow
Sesame but did not abandon the pineapples.

Through back home projects, we have built a permanent house and can
afford to save at least four thousand (4,000) per month through a
revolving SACCO fund. We make other savings, pay school fees for other
children in the family, and provide them with the necessary school
requirement – this was not the case before I joined the URDT Girls
school. The family is now proud of this saving culture because we meet
all our needs without straining so much.

Through back home projects, we can afford a balanced diet because we
grow a variety of crops including vegetables. Before these trainings,
we used to depend on cassava as our daily meal. In brief I can say that
the back home projects have become a backbone of our rural livelihood”.

September 03, 2009

by Susan Warshauer, Vice Chancellor of the African Rural University (at Uganda Rural Development and Training) -- submitted (#405) to Nicholas Kristof's "Half the Sky" contest.

I
look up and Odembos, the Human Rights Officer at URDT, is standing in
my office door. After a few minutes of chatting, Odembos explains that
he has a sad story to tell me. He hands me a photo of a very little
girl talking into the microphone at KKCR, the community radio station
run by URDT. He tells me she is 8 years old; she looks about 5 or 6.

Apparently,
the little girl’s Mother moved away and her Father began abusing her.
Although her Father said he would kill her if she told anyone, she told
her Aunt. Her Aunt began treating the injuries she sustained from the
abuse but would do nothing about stopping it. Finally, this tiny,
little girl went to the church in her village. She sat still and waited
until everyone finished praying, then told them she wanted to see the
Human Rights Officer she had heard on the radio. She said she needed
his help and explained what was happening. The good people at her
church raised the money necessary to transport her to URDT. While they
were making the arrangements, the little girl’s Father came looking for
her. The members of the church told him that she was at URDT already.

When
the little girl got to URDT she told her whole story to Odembos. He
worked with her over several days, getting her lodging and food in the
URDT Girls’ School. Odembos kept reassuring her that she was now safe.
He went to the police, they investigated, and the Aunt and others from
the village came forward. There was more than enough evidence to arrest
the man.

The photograph Odembos had just handed me was taken when
the little girl decided she would go on the radio to talk about what
had happened to her so other children would know that they too could
get help from URDT.

For
more than 20 years, Uganda Rural Development and Training Programme
(URDT) has helped people in rural, western Uganda create better lives
for themselves. Besides KKCR, which has over 2 million listeners, and
the Human Rights Office, URDT offers many other services. There are
primary and secondary schools for girls that use a two-generation
approach involving the students’ families in training and back-home
projects. URDT runs a Technical Institute for young men and women
helping them create jobs for themselves and others, a Land Rights
Office, an HIV/Aids Programme, a demonstration organic farm and farmer
training, and African Rural University (ARU) for women, focused on
creating Rural Transformation Specialists, where I work. http://www.urdt.net